Round balers generally have a bale forming chamber defined by an apron comprising an array of side-by-side belts, transverse slats trained on chains, a plurality of rolls or a combination of these various elements, e.g., rolls and belts. During field operation, crop material such as hay is picked up from the ground as the baler traverses the field, is fed into a fixed or adjustable diameter chamber, rolled into a compact cylindrical bale, wrapped with twine, net or the like and ejected onto the ground for subsequent handling.
Round balers of the general type mentioned above comprising a chamber defined (at least partly) by a plurality of side-by-side longitudinally extending belts supported on a plurality of transverse rollers, frequently utilize belts of a predetermined length with opposing ends attached to form a continuous band. The ends are spliced together by using known methods, one of the most common of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,580, issued on Feb. 1, 1983. This method, designated as "Prior Art" and shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings, includes the threading of a rod 2 through first and second series of loops extending from the opposing ends of a belt 3. The ends of rod 2 are then bent to hold it in place and thereby permit the splice to retain belt 3 in its continuous band configuration.
Another known method is disclosed in Publication No. LIT 1217 issued by the Clipper Belt Lacer Company of Grand Rapids, Mich. This method, illustrated in FIGS. 3-5, involves using a clip fastener 4 (FIG. 3), positioning it as shown in FIG. 4 and crimping the extended wing portions of the fastener so positioned to the rod as shown in FIG. 5.
Although prior art round baler belt splice methods have met with varying degrees of success, no solution exists that goes to the root of the problem, i.e., the need for a simple, quick and inexpensive splicing method that enhances the serviceability of round balers and thereby reduces down time which in turn results in an improvement to the overall machine performance.